Nearly lost my Mavic 2 Pro through old age and complacency. I always land my craft at the minimum 25% level but I was complacent and realising that RTH is brilliant on these Dji drones, I allowed myself to think, OK, I am flying my drone and actively following my daughter who is exercising her German Shepherd along a very long beach in Southern Scotland. I had totally forgot that as I walked along with her I should have set the RTH to the RC's location or adjusted it as I travelled along to my new location. Well, I ignored the RTH beeping and then it dawned on me that the RTH was nowhere near me. Normal thinking left me and some amount of panic set in. Battery is running out how do I use 'Find my Drone?' Oh No! the beach is stony and grey in places and all I have is a still picture to go on. Have I finally lost my M2P? Long story short, I will never let my drones go below a safe level of returning battery level. ( If my dementia allows). I eventually found the drone and luckily the tide was still some way from coming in. I know, lesson learned, but will I remember?

An almost costly lesson learned, but you really should know where the drone is in the sky at all times and not have to rely on an RTH. Your reliance on an automatic safety system was what caused the problem, but had you just flown it back to you manually, this wouldn't have happened.

Also, RTH at low battery is fairly risky. If incorrectly configured, you can use up precious battery %. For example if the RTH height is set to 120m then the drone will rise to this altitude and then begin flying back, which wastes a lot of energy and could cause an issue if the battery is old or weak.

CloudVisual Posted at 3-10 05:19
An almost costly lesson learned, but you really should know where the drone is in the sky at all times and not have to rely on an RTH. Your reliance on an automatic safety system was what caused the problem, but had you just flown it back to you manually, this wouldn't have happened.

Also, RTH at low battery is fairly risky. If incorrectly configured, you can use up precious battery %. For example if the RTH height is set to 120m then the drone will rise to this altitude and then begin flying back, which wastes a lot of energy and could cause an issue if the battery is old or weak.

Thank you for your comments CloudVisual. As I typed here beforehand, I NEVER fly my craft below 25% level. This was a one-off situation and one which I will not repeat, hopefully. Incident still fresh in my mind so I will not make the same mistake again. Also, it was a cold windy day so we had the beach to ourselves and there was no danger of anyone else being involved. Reliance on automation of the drones is not to be relied on at all times and I certainly will take measures to learn from this. Cheers!

yogi053 Posted at 3-10 05:31
Thank you for your comments CloudVisual. As I typed here beforehand, I NEVER fly my craft below 25% level. This was a one-off situation and one which I will not repeat, hopefully. Incident still fresh in my mind so I will not make the same mistake again. Also, it was a cold windy day so we had the beach to ourselves and there was no danger of anyone else being involved. Reliance on automation of the drones is not to be relied on at all times and I certainly will take measures to learn from this. Cheers!

It takes almost no time to reset your homepoint to prevent the drone wanting to fly way back to where you started.
Try it out so you know where it is and how to do it, so you can easily find it when you need it.

Thanks Labroides. I know how to do it. It was just being caught up with actively following daughter and dog on a long beach that I forgot about changing the home point. I really have learned a valuable lesson. I hope!

A cautionary tale for us all to heed. Thanks for your candour.

Blériot53 Posted at 3-10 12:17
A cautionary tale for us all to heed. Thanks for your candour.

Yes, I did feel stupid.

yogi053 Posted at 3-11 00:33
Yes, I did feel stupid.

Comes to us all

We all drop clangers now and again..

yogi053 Posted at 3-10 05:31
Thank you for your comments CloudVisual. As I typed here beforehand, I NEVER fly my craft below 25% level. This was a one-off situation and one which I will not repeat, hopefully. Incident still fresh in my mind so I will not make the same mistake again. Also, it was a cold windy day so we had the beach to ourselves and there was no danger of anyone else being involved. Reliance on automation of the drones is not to be relied on at all times and I certainly will take measures to learn from this. Cheers!

Worth me adding then, that cold and windy conditions are not ideal for RTH. A strong headwind will only make things worse, cold weather could also cause a battery voltage to dip early.

Nevertheless, it's good to recognise mistakes and learn from them. At least no one got hurt and you got your drone back.